Posted by Cosy Crime has had quite the renaissance over the last decade or so. There’s the three Kenneth Branagh Hercule Poirot films, the latest one being A Haunting In Venice, Disney+’s Only Murders in The Building and the Knives Out films – a new one of which is coming out this December. That’s not to mention the glut of books that have been released, from Judge Rinder horrible histories Terry Deary and popstar turned priest Richard Coles, to the grandaddy of them all Richard Osman. The latter of which wrote the charming and hugely successful Thursday Murder Club books, the first of which Amblin bought the film rights to.
Home Alone and Harry Potter director Chris Columbus was brought in to direct a star studded cast including Helen Mirren as club leader Elizabeth, Pierce Brosnan as old union firebrand Ron, Ben Kingsley as ex psychiatrist Ibrahim and Celia Imrie as the mild mannered Joyce. Elizabeth heads the Thursday Murder Club, a gang of armchair sleuths who solves police cold cases – like New Tricks but without the catchy theme tune. Much to their delight they get caught up in a real life murder case to crack, all the while their palatial care home for millionaires – no lack of funds or staff here(!) – is under threat of being sold by David Tennant’s hammed up, sneering businessman Ian Ventham and turned into flats.
It is a solid, if staid, crime caper that sticks largely to the book except for one rather large alteration for Polish handyman and fan favourite Bogdan. It zips along at a jolly pace and is pleasantly watchable but you have seen its ilk before, and done with more panache. The cast is starry but do not add much, with Brosnan an odd choice for a rough and ready cockney. Daniel Mays plays the clichéd bumbling local plod, reprising the stock character he played in Magpie Murders. Although it was nice to briefly see a villainous Richard E. Grant as career criminal Bobby Tanner.
A nice but predictable whodunnit that is as comfortable and unchallenging as an old pair of slippers. The perfect partner to a dozy Sunday afternoon after a big roast dinner, when the remote’s just out of reach.
6/10.
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